Image Acquires Rights to George Harrison's Handmade Library Titles

Late Beatle George Harrison may no longer be with us, but his film production work lives on thanks to indie home entertainment giant, Image. The company has announced the acquisition of Harrison's Handmade Films library, a collection of titles produced by the rock icon which showcases a wide range of movies covering multiple genres. The DVD/Blu-ray and electronic debuts are set for undisclosed times. The label's first theatrical release is the seminal Terry Gilliam flick, Time Bandits, which was one of several of Handmade's titles under threat of a remake several years ago, but nothing has come of it to date.

The fantasy adventure tale about a young boy who befriends a group of time-traveling dwarves isn't the only hit to Harrison's credit. "The Handmade library contains some of the greatest and most influential films of the past thirty years," said Ted Green, chairman and CEO of Image. "Their legendary expertise with home entertainment is the perfect match for our picture collection." That collection also includes movies like the British gangster drama The Long Good Friday starring Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren; Neil Jordan's 1986 noir Mona Lisa, which Kids' director Larry Clark is developing into a remake -- starring Eva Green; the black comedies and farces How to Get Ahead in Advertising, Withnail and I, A Private Function with Michael Pain (Monty Python) and Maggie Smith (Harry Potter), and the nutty Water starring Michael Caine and Valerie Perrine. [after the jump: what about that Harrison/Scorsese documentary?]

Speaking of Harrison, Scorsese's still untitled documentary about the music/movie mogul, which is being produced by Harrison's widow, Olivia Harrison, is currently in production. Back in November, Scorsese still wasn't sure if the film would be getting a US theatrical release (hard to believe): "We've talked to everyone. We did Paul and Ringo, and Olivia Harrison. She's the one who gave us the rights for this," he told Showbiz411. The director confirmed that the film will air in the U.K. on BBC. The documentary (featuring family archival footage) covers Harrison's Beatles career and his successful solo years, his time with Handmade and Harrison's Eastern spiritual pursuits.